


nonchalant and delightful

by teababy



Series: One Shot Collection [2]
Category: K-pop, NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Fluff, One Shot, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-02
Updated: 2020-03-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:19:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22985455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teababy/pseuds/teababy
Summary: [52- “What do you mean you ‘love me?’”]
Relationships: Mark Lee (NCT) & Reader, Mark Lee (NCT)/Reader
Series: One Shot Collection [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1662208
Kudos: 25





	nonchalant and delightful

A small pouch was dropped on Mark’s desk and a couple pieces of candy fell out. He grabbed one before it fell to the ground and looked above him to see his best friend giving him a kind smile. She said, “My brother had some leftover Halloween candy he didn’t want, so I thought you’d like to have the rest of it.” Y/N sat in the spot next to him and began to pull her books out for class. He gave her the biggest smile and began to look through the small bag.

“Wow, thanks so much! I love you a ton! You’re the best.” He exclaimed. This made his friend’s heart swell with pride, knowing she had made his morning a little more cheerful. It was common for the two of them to bring snacks or little treats to each other in class every so often. Especially the class they were in at that moment, physics, could fry their brains a little, so a sweet treat definitely would come in handy when dealing with the crabby old teacher in the front. They chatted about nothing and poked jokes at each other for the next few minutes before class started.

Things had always been this way. So comfortable and just right. Being friends for as long as they had, there weren’t any expectations to constantly go above and beyond, and just being in the presence of the other was often the highlight of the day. They had each other’s backs and were glued at the hip and they wouldn’t have it any other way. When Mark had a band concert, Y/N was always in the front row, ready for her ears to be blown away. When Y/N’s heart was broken by the school’s resident bad boy, Mark was on her porch with a smoothie and chicken nuggets within an hour, ready to watch Disney movies. They would go to the ends of the Earth for each other.

Where things always seemed to go wrong, though, were in their love lives. They both valued each other’s opinions so much that they wouldn’t dare date someone if the other didn’t approve (the bad boy was a slip up, but Y/N forgave Mark). They had a little bit of a code: if the other was interested in another person, they would text the other a picture of said person with the simple caption “Yes or no?” and whatever they said was taken as gospel. Besides, who knew their best friend better? When it came to choosing a significant other, actually, it was usually Y/N. At least once a week, it seemed like she asked for Mark’s opinion on a guy. The thing is, he hadn’t actually approved of a guy in almost a year. Not that Y/N was necessarily disappointed, because let’s be honest, the guys at their high school weren’t exactly marriage worthy. It did make her wonder why, though.

As she thought about it that afternoon, Y/N didn’t think Mark had been interested in a girl since their freshman year. And the only reason that ended was because the girl moved to another state entirely. Again, people at their school weren’t really date worthy, so she hadn’t ever given it much of a thought. She personally wouldn’t pick a girl from a lineup for her best friend. But Mark had connections at other schools, so she wondered if he had even met many girls from outside their school? With that, an idea popped into Y/N’s head. She was gonna get her BFF a girlfriend if it killed her.

Her search started small. She started with the seniors and the sophomores (she didn’t think he would date a freshman). They knew practically all the girls in their grade and he had pretty much either rejected or shown no interest at all in any of them. So, that left two groups. At first she found a pretty and very tall senior girl who she recognized as someone from the debate team (which Y/N was apart of). When approached, she found out she was actually dating a girl, so that was one good option out the door. Her next target was the tan, petite sophomore girl with a bob cut who always sat drawing at lunch. She seemed nice enough and very approachable.

“Sorry,” the girl said when Y/N not so subtlety pointed oh her friend. “I guess he just isn’t my type.”

“Huh!? He’s Mark Lee, he’s everyone's type. I promise you, he’s so amazing if you talk to him.” Y/N rebutted. The girl shook her head again.

“I mean, if he’s so great, date him yourself.” She challenged. This made Y/N beet red and she immediately rejected the idea and shook her head.

“No, no, no, I’m trying to score him a date or a girlfriend, I’m not here to play games. He’s my best friend.” She explained, but the girl just ignored her. Sort of ruder than she thought, so she didn’t take that as a loss.

Days went by and then they turned into weeks and then months. She had kind of forgotten about and given up on her quest. The weather outside was chilling fast and she could feel the Christmas spirit filling the air. Good ole cuffing season. And Y/N was starting to feel that holiday loneliness. She hadn’t ever had a kiss under the mistletoe or anyone to cuddle with by the fire with a hot chocolate. But, she was too busy with finals and Christmas shopping for her family to give too much thought about it.

Mark, however, had plenty of time to think about it. All those years, it wasn’t that he didn’t find anyone attractive or worth giving his time to. He just had one girl he wanted to give everything and anything to. But she was always on a search for her next guy. And it did hurt. It hurt when he would get a message with a picture of a guy with a “Yes or no?” bells and a bunch of heart eyes emojis. He felt sort of like a jerk rejecting them all the time, but it was sort of just intuition. Guys know guys. He looked at the ones he sent her and couldn’t help but roll his eyes. No one would treat her well enough.

She was so precious that he would never be able to bear seeing her hurt in any way. But he was convinced he wouldn’t do that. Not like they would. Mark was so head over heels. The love he held for Y/N was like walking outside and feeling the warm summer breeze on your face. Like getting butterflies when you drive over a hill too fast. It was like eating the sweetest candy that you could never get enough of. But it also felt like a sucker punch straight to the gut. It stung a little because he had convinced himself long ago that he would never tell her. He tried to just wait it out. At first he thought it was just a phase; that he would get over her within a couple months. Unfortunately for him, that never really happened. Her little platonic “I love you’s” and the hugs she game kept reeling him in. Instead, his crush totally grew. He couldn’t be in the same room with her without his heart rate rising at least a little. Not to mention when they were alone, studying or watching a movie.

Speaking of studying, that’s what they were doing at that moment. They sat in Mark’s room on the floor, physics and history papers scattered between them. Just the scene looked chaotic. Y/N was stressing over writing essays and Mark was still trying to figure out the kinetic energy formula. After about ten more minutes, Y/N let out a frustrated groan and tossed her notebook to the side. She scooted over to her friend and plopped her head down on his shoulder.

“Hi, I’m bored. And tired. And I don’t wanna study anymore.” She complained. She looked up at him and batted her eyelashes, as if pleading that they could take a break. He gave a slow nod and took one last look over his notes before shutting them.

“Yeah, sounds good to me, too. Let’s stop for today,” he complied. “Let’s go make some popcorn and put on Law & Order or something.”

So they made their way to the kitchen and grabbed two bags of “Butter Lover” popcorn (because who are we kidding, they could each eat a whole bag easily). Mark put the first one in the microwave and started it and leaned against the counter, taking in his crush/best friend.

“Hey, any guys lately?” He asked, feeling a knot form in his stomach. He didn’t really want to know, but part of him wanted to know what his supposed competition was. Y/N have a quick thought and shook her head, saying she didn’t particularly have an eye on anyone.

“Well,” he said. “I have a girl to ask you about. She’s pretty wicked. Wanna see her?”

“Yo, are you kidding? I’ve been waiting for this!” She laughed and shouted. She punched him in the arm and said, “So, show me! Who’s this lucky gal?”

He gave a laugh that sounded a little too nervous and pulled out his phone, winking at her. Y/N felt a little pinch in her stomach somewhere, but brushed it off. She hopped up on the counter to try and peak over his shoulder to see this girl he was so interested in, but he turned his phone away from her, blocking the view. She pulled on his arm, begging him to show her already, but she felt a vibration in her pocket, letting her know she had a notification. She picked out her phone and saw a text notification from Mark.

“Come on,” she laughed. “I’m right here, you could have just shown me. No reason to play this ga-.” She immediately stopped when she opened the notification. At first, she wasn’t exactly sure what to think. On her screen was a picture of her from that summer, when she and Mark had gone to a concert with the message “Yes or no?” underneath. It was of her absolutely lighting up when she was singing to the music. It was a good picture, but she had never seen it before. She could tell Mark had taken it, but she didn’t know why he never sent it to her.

She laughed a little and said, “Come on, now, don’t mess with me. That isn’t fair!” She poked his arm, but he wasn’t joking back. He had a smile on his face, but it wasn’t in a making fun of her nature. His smile looked very unsure and nervous. He wouldn’t really look her first more than a second and she could tell he was sweating just a little.

“Nah, I’m not joking. I’m not messing with you. I promise,” He said, almost scared to hear her reaction. This was totally the end of their friendship. She was going to get mad at him or totally make fun of him. “I love you. A lot.”

“What do you mean you ‘love me’?” Y/N asked. She was admittedly still a little confused and definitely not sure what to think. This was Mark she was thinking about. Sometimes he could be a total jokester. And she wasn’t about to be caught slipping. She waited moments and moments for him to just break out his charming smile (‘charming smile, his what?’) and shove her arm a little, telling her he was just joking.

“I don’t know, that I love you?” He said, thinking he had made himself clear. “You give me butterflies, you make me blush, I've liked you for a while. It’s no big deal…” he brushed off, making it seem very nonchalant. There were a few moments where they just sat there, neither of them knowing what to say or do. The microwave had already gone off twice, but they didn’t make a move to open it. The air was thick and they both felt more than awkward.

After realizing she probably wasn't going to say anything, Mark sighed and said, “I’m sorry, I knew it was a bad idea. You don’t have to… we don’t have to talk about it,” He laughed, trying to lighten the mood, and got the popcorn out of the microwave. “If you want, we can call it a day and I’ll just drive you home if you want.”

Y/N stared at him a little longer before realizing she was making it weirder. “No, Mark, don’t think this is a bad thing. I’m just… trying to process what you said.” She opened her phone back up and looked at the message again. The glaring “Yes or no?” staring her in the soul. What exactly was she supposed to do? This was her best friend. They weren’t supposed to fall for each other. That was against the bro code, wasn’t it? Bros before hoes, right? Wait, was she the hoe now? Did she come before the bro now? Did he even consider her a bro? (Evidently not.)

He shook his head and put his hands up in defense. “No worries, I didn’t expect anything,” he said, putting up a wall immediately. “I’ll go get your backpack and all and I’ll just take you home.” And just like it had never happened, he patchers on the shoulder and went back to his room. Y/N watched after him as he disappeared down the hallway. She looked back at her phone.

Her heart and fingers acted much quicker than her mind. Was she really about to give this a shot? Potentially scar all the years of friendship they had? Mark was cute. He was beyond cute. And he was funny and so, so, so very kind. He liked kids. He always watched after her and paid for her food when they went out. He celebrated with her when she had successes. He was the perfect guy, wasn’t he? He was all she could have wanted. Was she just blind this whole time? All this time of her pining after guys who weren’t worth her time and trying to set him up with girls he hardly knew and all he wanted was her?

Before she knew it, she sent the word “Yes” back to Mark and held her breath. It felt like a scene out of some kind of FanFiction and she still didn’t know what to feel. But whatever she felt, it was good. And nerve-wracking. She waited for just a moment before she heard clambering down the hall. She opened her eyes wide as Mark turned the corner, a notebook he forgot to put down in hand and he was grinning. Man, was he smiling big. He laughed and just asked, in disbelief, “Really?”

Y/N nodded and let out a nervous laugh, suddenly feeling very small and shy. She took in a deep breath before he all but ran to her and gave her the tightest hug, saying, “You won’t regret this. I’m going to love you so hard. You’re my best friend. I love you so much. I promise I’ll be everything you’ve ever needed.” And she believed him. And good thing she did, because it turned out to be the smartest decision she made.


End file.
